Protocol Magi :ORIGIN / Episode 7

Naturally, I'm the best is the seventh episode of Protocol Magi :ORIGIN.

Characters

 * Mashiro Mitsu
 * Nakajima Shiori / Aubade
 * Oshiro Hanako / Hyacinth
 * Abe Kira / Solstice
 * Hikawa Naomi / Numina
 * Aoyama Anna / Nimbus
 * Minami Mio
 * Kyoei
 * Kawamiya-sensei
 * Shitto (Mentioned)
 * Asagawa-sensei (Mentioned)

Episode
She walked the streets of Hanabi. Her hands were in the pockets of her hoodie. Wisps of magenta hair that faded to green peeked out from underneath the hood open hood. A beep alerted her of something, and she fished a device from her pocket. The screen flashed, and a blue dot appeared on it. She smirked, and changed her direction, turning a corner and coming to a crêperie. She looked at the device again, and then at the patrons of the small store, spotting what – or rather who – she was looking for. She quietly entered the outdoor catering, and sat down opposite to her startled target, the blue dot blinking repeatedly on the device now in her pocket. “Hello,” she said, her emerald eyes twinkling victoriously. “Shitto honestly is no match for someone like me, so it is only natural that I would be the one to find you. You should be honoured, that yours truly came to find you.”

Back on the roof where the Magi had reconvened, and four of them had successfully revealed who they were, Kira grinned. She was very amused at the junior Magi’s reaction. “Well, we’ve been hiding it for several months so you’re not exactly the first. Come on, de-transform you to; you knowing who we are and we not knowing who you are is kinda’ impolite, isn’t it?” “Uhh,” the yellow Magi scratched her chin. “…how?”

Kira burst out laughing, whilst Naomi smiled. “Just focus on becoming yourself again,” the black haired girl stated. “It’s easy.”

“…You said that about getting here too,” the yellow Magi noted, but nonetheless closed her eyes, and was shortly enveloped in a yellow light, before Anna stood in her place. Kira stopped laughing instantly, staring at the older girl.

“…What,” the bluenette deadpanned. “When did-…” Then she noted the other’s lack of reaction. “You knew?!” “Well, not for sure,” Hanako smiled. “Just a feeling.” “Yeah,” Naomi nodded. “I mean, we were all friends before we became Magi, so following that trend, it’s not that surprising.” “B-but-…” “Kira,” Shiori stated, “it wasn’t that hard to figure out. With Mio being here, as well as her knowing that we call Mitsu a ‘maniac’, it was actually rather obvious.”

“Speaking of calling people things,” Hanako said, “you need a name, Anna.” “…Uh, Banana.” “Ba-…” Hanako asked. “Banana?” “Well, yeah?” Anna replied. “I’m yellow..?” “Anna,” Naomi said. “Banana may not be the best idea.”

“Why not?” Anna was almost affronted by the idea. “Bananas are cool.” “Well,” Kira stated. “We have Aubade,” she gestured at Shiori, “Hyacinth,” she pointed at Hanako, “Numina,” she nodded towards Naomi, “Solstice,” she indicated herself, “and Banana.” She looked at Anna with a completely flat look. “Which one doesn’t fit?” The brunet didn’t give her an answer, “fine. What about Lunatic, then, because this is all madness.”

“I wouldn’t pick that either if I were you,” Naomi replied. “It may sound cool, but calling yourself a Lunatic may not be the best idea.” “…Then what would you suggest?” Anna asked. Kira’s lips instantly twisted into a grin, and the blue haired girl was about to reply when another voice – Mio’s – beat her to it.

“What about ‘Nimbus’?”

Cue five heads turning to her.

“Well, I mean, when you first transformed, a lightning bolt hit you, and lightning comes from thunder clouds, so, Nimbus.” Kira nodded. “I can work with that. Good to have you on the team, Nimbus.” She rose a hand, awaiting a high five.

“Hey, I never agreed to-…” “Don’t leave me hanging,” Kira stated. “…fine.” Anna replied, sighing, placing her palm against Kira’s.

The following day started out normal for the friends. They went to school, got their things out of their lockers, and headed to their classrooms. When Kira entered homeroom, Shiori already sat at her desk, working on what looked like maths homework from cram school. “Hey,” Kira smiled. “You’re starting early, I see.” “Yeah.” Shiori didn’t look up. “Once Mitsu get here, I won’t be able to get anything done, what with her tendency to get rather loud.” Kira grinned. “Not holding back, are you?” Her tone turned teasing, “but are you sure that’s the only reason?” Shiori evidently wasn’t fazed by the attempt to gain a reaction from her; “it’s fun”, she stated. “What are you working on now, then?” “Force field generation energy consumption and properties.” “Ooh,” Kira smiled. “Fancy. Maybe shouldn’t let a certain maniac see that though.” “I doubt she’d be able to make any connections,” Shiori replied. “For the most part, this is way over her head. And, as far as she knows, I am not particularly believing of the Magi. She has never seen me interacting with one.” “Are you still trying to scientifically explain what happens?”

“There has to be an explanation,” Shiori replied, writing down the answer for the current problem, and flipping to the page in her book with the answer sheets for all the exercises. “I know fairly well how some aspects work, but it still doesn’t make sense. There is a large amount of energy that seemingly comes from no-where, but energy can’t be created, only converted.” “I guess,” Kira smiled. “I’d help but anything I could come up with, you’ve likely already considered.” Shiori eyed her out of the corner of her eye. “Is that a compliment?” “Well, yea-…”

“GUYS! I HAVE BIG NEWS! THERE IS A NEW ONE!” came from just outside the door.

Kira let out a laugh, Shiori sighed, and closed her books, putting them back in her bag. Mitsu came into the room. “Yo!” Kira greeted. “What’s with the yelling, Mitsu?” “There were two fights yesterday!” Mitsu grinned ear-to-ear. “And during the second one, there was a yellow Magical Girl!”

“Oh?” Kira grinned. She was going to enjoy this as much as she could. “Were the fights good?” Mitsu’s smile faltered slightly. “Ikindadidn’tgetthereintimetoseethesecondonebutyeah…” she mumbled. “..What was that?” Kira asked. “Could you repeat that?” “Well,” Mitsu said. “The first one, I only got to see the start, but the Magi were awesome!”

“How come you didn’t see the entire thing?” Kira grinned; she knew, but Mitsu didn’t know that she did. “...Numina picked me up and put me down ten blocks away.” Mitsu didn’t seem too keen on admitting that fact, and quickly moved on, “but to the most important part: There is a new Magi! She’s yellow, but I really gotta figure out her name.” For some reason, this caused Kira to start snickering. “I mean,” Mitsu continued. “I can’t keep calling her ‘Yellow’. It doesn’t make sense. Like, I know the others; Hyacinth, Solstice, Numina, and Aubade. ‘Yellow’ doesn’t fit.”

“Yeah,” Kira got out between her bouts of snickers. “I know.” “I mean, su-…” What Kira had said registered, and Mitsu spun to look at her best friend which, fortunately put Shiori out of her line of sight; the studious girl was giving Kira a rather seething warning look. “What?” the maniac asked. “Which one of them doesn’t fit with the others? It’s pretty obvious”, Kira replied – completely unfazed by Shiori’s look. “I mean, imagine if she’s called something silly like ‘Banana.’” “B-banana?” Mitsu asked, puzzled. “Why would she be called Banana?” “Eh, who knows?” Kira shrugged. “It’d be ridiculous.” “Well, it’s better than Yellow” Mitsu mumbled. “Banana it is until further notice.”

“…” Kira blinked. Mitsu couldn’t be serious, right? “…Wait, seriously?” “Yeah.” “I was joking!”

“Abe-san. Mashiro-san.” The two girls swivelled around to look at the person addressing them. Kawamiya-sensei stood in the doorway. “Take your seats. The lesson is starting.”

Halfway across the city, she walked at a leisurely pace through one of the pedestrian streets lined with various stores, sipping on a chocolate milkshake through a pink and green straw in her right hand. She wasn’t going anywhere special, having finished her task for the day. It had been a cakewalk, really. Of course it had been. It was a simple find and fetch task after all. Why wouldn’t it have been simple? She was one of the be-…

Her thoughts were interrupted by someone bumping into her, causing her milkshake to spill over the front of the tank top she was wearing underneath the hoodie.

A deep frown settled on her face, and her gaze turned ice sharp as she turned to look at the poor man, who apologized after having been a bit daze himself.

“I’ll make you pay,” she spoke, each syllable sharp as glass shards.

If her words weren’t enough, then the sight of a black substance travelling from her left arm over her body and changing her clothes to a black, one-shoulder dress with a pink gradient towards the bottom hem. A dark pink gem in the same shape and colour as the one pinned on her dress rested on her left hand. Without saying a word, she rose her left arm, palm facing towards the man, in front of which a black pearl materialized from a gooey substance.

The man, utterly terrified, started to back away, trying to get away from her. However, it proved futile, as the black pearl shot past him and hit the mirror of a makeup pact a woman was carrying. The item fell out of her hands, but before it was able to hit the ground, it imploded. The small item then expanded outwards and upwards, creating a large Shade that dwarfed the nearby buildings.

Seeing this, people started panicking, trying to get away from the large creature and the freaky girl with non-human powers. Not that it was any use for the unfortunate man who had accidentally spilled her drink. He was trapped in-between the two.

Back in the classroom the majority of the lesson had passed, with the students working on their each, individual projects regarding the history of Hanabi, when Mitsu’s phone buzzed. She knew that technically, she wasn’t supposed to have it with her in class, but then again, according to the teacher, Magical Girls didn’t technically exist either. Plus, her phone was vital to her ongoing investigation. She pulled out her phone, and, sure enough, a news feed she had recently started to follow that had seemingly accurate updates on whenever a fight broke out had posted again. “Holy sweet mother of magical girls,” Mitsu uttered, pushing her stuff into her bag haphazardly. “Sorry Kawamiya-sensei, but I gotta dash! This is something I can’t miss. Yeah! It has something to do with my project, bye!”

…And she was out the door.

Kawamiya-sensei pinched the bridge of hisnose. “Nakajima-san, Abe-san, any idea what that was?” Kira looked away from the door. “Well,” Kira stated, “she had to go..? But other than that, no, not really.” Kawamiya-sensei sighed. “Nakajima-san?” Shiori looked up from her books, then shook her head in a negative. The class went back to studying.

Kira frowned. Something was obviously up with the way Mitsu reacted. She wouldn’t usually react like that. Sure, she’d be happy about any excuse to leave the History class early, but not that happy, unless… Realizing what could have potentially happened, she quickly scrawled a short message onto a piece of paper. Keeping an eye on the teacher, who was busy helping another student at the time, Kira poked Shiori in the back of her head with her pencil. No reaction. Kira poked again. No reaction once more. The third time, Shiori turned around. “What?”, came the hushed inquiry. Kira held up the note.

Shiori looked at the piece of paper once, before nodding, rising her hand. “Kawamiya-sensei?” “Yes, Nakajima-san?” “I was wondering; wouldn’t it be best if someone went after Mitsu? She took her things with her, which means that she likely left the school premises, which, by extension means that she may very well be late for, or miss entirely, the next class.”

The teacher sighed. “Nakajima-san, I trust you’d be able to catch up on the time you’d lose by going after her?” “I would,” Shiori confirmed. “Then go. Take your things with you, and I’ll notify Asagawa-sensei about the reason for your absence, should you be unable to get back before your next class.” Shiori nodded, and proceeded to put her things into her bag in a much more organized manner than the panicked one Mitsu had shown only moments prior.

Once the bluehaired girl had made her way out the door, Kira spoke up. “Hey, why can’t I go too?” she asked. “I’m friends with Mitsu too!” “How far have you gotten on your project about City Hall?” “…Err…” “There is your answer, Abe-san.”

There were moments Mitsu regretted that she did not have better stamina, and this was one of them. But in all honesty, she wouldn’t make the effort to actually fix it. It would take time from her main objective; finding out who the Magi are. That didn’t stop her from complaining about it, though.

Aubade had arrived in the nick of time to save the man from getting hit with a beam of reflected sunlight from the Shade. “Get out of here,” she told the man – who instantly took her advice; Two girls with freaky powers and a giant monster? He was not about to get caught up in that.

Aubade sent the blue, sparkling ripple towards the Shade, pushing it back, before she flipped backwards, narrowly dodging a kick that broke the asphalt below from Kyoei. Not missing a beat, Aubade landed on one hand, spun, and kicked at the Messenger, forcing Kyoei back a couple of metres. “Right,” the messenger stated, “the Magi.” “Who are you, what do you want?” Aubade demanded, blue ripples once more appearing around her fists.

“Would an ant need to know the name of the boot stepping on it?” “Tell that to the bullet ant.”

Kyoei frowned. The what?

When Mitsu made it to the street, the two were back at trading blows, with Aubade occasionally aiming a few attacks at the Shade. Mitsu instantly pulled out her phone to video tape the entire encounter, and had to admit; Aubade was very adept at fighting two opponents at once, and keeping on level ground. After a while of back and forth fighting – with Mitsu getting pushed back by a blue ripple in the middle of it, the two sides broke apart. “Where are your fellow Magi, Aubade? Too scared to come?” Kyoei smirked. “I wouldn’t blame them. They’d have to fight me, after all.”

As if on cue, something red descended upon the Shade, kicking it into the asphalt. Following suit, the orange Magi appeared, landing beside where the red stood. “Aww,” Solstice stated jokingly. “I wanted to kick it.” Then, the yellow, followed by the green landed as well. “You’re really doing great,” Numina smiled at the junior Magi. “You’re really learning quickly.” “Yeah, I only face planted once on the way here”, was Nimbus’ sarcastic reply.

“Well,” Aubade replied, “’Too scared’ isn’t really the phrase you’re looking for.”

Kyoei didn’t answer. How dare they talk back at her? As a response to it’s master’s agitation, the Shade rose with new vigour, advancing at the Shade. Noticing this, the Magi turned to their leader. “Nimbus, Numina, Hyacinth, you deal with the Shade.” The three nodded, and turned towards it, spreading out.

Solstice grinned, stretching her arms over her head, looking at the Messenger. “Okay,” she stated, “let’s get this show started.”

Mitsu, meanwhile, was all but on cloud nine. For two reasons. First, a full team Magi fight? And she was able to film it? This was going to be gold; she just knew it. And second? Aubade had called three names. Two of which she already knew, but one was new to her. And she wasn’t talking about Solstice either, because Solstice’s name was Solstice, not Nimbus. Which, lead to the sole conclusion that Banana’s name was Nimbus!

The three Magi focusing on the Shade all but danced around it; Three against one was good odds, after all. Nimbus, who had only just transformed for the second time, got coached by the other two – having the goal of activating the same power as she had the first time, albeit, so far, unsuccessfully.

Kyoei traded blows with Aubade and Solstice – something that annoyed her to no end, was Aubade’s constant use of barriers to hinder Kyoei’s movement, which, at times, appeared straight in front of the messenger, whose only saving grace in those moments were her reflexes. This, combined with the fact that there were two of them at every single moment meant that she was forced onto the defensive more than she liked to admit.

The only hits she ever managed to get in, was on the orange Magi, although for some reason, it seemed like she was letting down her guard more often than not.

Which she realized the reason to when she took a more powerful punch than the orange had been throwing initially that she was not able to block entirely. In retaliation, she sidestepped, and twirled around, aiming a kick at Solstice’s head. Again, she was blocked by one of those infuriating barriers.

Kicking away from the pair, Kyoei created a momentary moment to breathe, during which she surveyed the situation. Hey eyes fell on Mitsu, who was currently focused on the other three and the Shade. Kyoei contemplated attacking her, but then she realized something else; No matter how useless the Magi were, if it was three against one, they should have been able to do at least a little bit more damage to the Shade? Sure, it was her who had created it after all, and she was Shitto’s superior in strength by leagues, but she wasn’t oblivious to the reports. She knew that the red and the green one were experienced. Then, her eyes fell to the yellow one, and she realized the situation. She smirked.

“Well, isn’t this adorable?” she asked as the two magi came her way again. “Maybe you should worry less about me, and more about your charges?” The messenger rose her palm, which turned a warm, red colour. The air in front of it started to tremble – heating up.

Aubade’s eyes widened. Mitsu. She locked eyes with Solstice, and kicked of a blue ripple, going back directly, and landing in front of the Magi-maniac just in time to pull up a force field to protect herself and Mitsu.

Kyoei sent another wave of heat Solstice’s way, forcing the orange Magi to fall back a bit, and shot off in the direction of the other three Magi, all the while as she maintained the thermic assault on the two who had targeted her. As a response to its master’s actions, the Shade stopped worrying about the Magi, and instead turned its attention to surrounding targets; civilians, shops, bases of buildings. Noticing this change, Hyacinth landed, and directed mana into her legs, causing them to glow with a faint red light as she sped off to pick a straggler off the road, picking them up.

“You need to leave. Now.” Aubade spoke, addressing Mitsu without looking at her. “You being here actually impedes on our ability to fight, and as extension, endangering everyone else here.”

“But I-…” “If you for one second care about the people around here more than your own, selfish wants, leave.”

The jovial mood the Magi had had minutes earlier had completely vanished with the declining of the current situation. The only one who even had a chance at blocking the knight's ability, was Aubade, and she was unable to move due to Mitsu. Hyacinth made several attempts to get close enough to pick the maniac up and take her away from the fight, but each time, she was forced to quickly change direction either due to the monster advancing towards civilians, or an attack directly from the messenger herself blocked her path. Solstice stayed as close to the monster as she could manage, gathering energy from each hit she didn't quite block, not quite being able to do much more than be a distraction and a bit of an annoyance to the Shade yet. Numina, however, was all over the fight. She used her ability liberally, boosting her speed with the winds, and thus being able to keep up with pulling civilians out of the way of both the Shade and the Messengers' rampage.

Nimbus honestly tried to keep up with what the others were doing, but she was struggling to even avoid the beams from the Shade – always managing, but only barely. She landed roughly after ducking underneath a beam, and just as she turned around, she came face to face with the messenger who was having an unnerving, victorious smirk on her face. Nimbus’ eyes widened – there was no time to dodge, there was no time for the others to come rescue her. ''There was no time. If only there was more time.''

Mitsu gasped at the sight. There was no way Nimbus would get hit, right? She may be new, but...   "Nimbus!" Aubade called, swiping behind her out of reflex, forming a force field that pushed Mitsu back several metres – out of the trajectory of the continuous heat waves sent from the Messenger – in a desperate attempt to be able to run forward and help the newest Magi.

Then, just as Kyoei was about to strike with a palm that glowed faintly in ice blue, the yellow glow came back to surround Nimbus, and all the surroundings slowed down. Nimbus stared around her, noticing the distraught faces of the other Magi and Mitsu who still hadn’t left. It happened again! She turned to look at the messenger once again, before she stepped to the side, clenched her hand into a fist, and punched the messenger in the side. The glow faded the moment her punch connected, and Kyoei was sent hurling into a window.

“Whoa…” Nimbus mumbled. There had been time after all! “Wait,” she mumbled, “Time… No way.”

The Shade turned around, now focusing on the Magi who had struck down it’s master, advancing towards her. She crouched down, and then raced at it, ducking under another beam from the Shade. It swiped at her in an attempt to put her off course, but Hyacinth jumped in between, kicking the appendage away and thus keeping the way free for Nimbus. As she neared the Shade, she felt that same strength well up in her as that time she had previously defeated a Shade. On instinct, she pulled back her arm.

“Nimbus Tempo!” The yellow Magi cried out, surrounded by the warm, yellow glow, which slowed down the surroundings. She landed several punches and kicks at the Shade in this state, before planting her palms at the mirror that composed the main part of the Shade’s body, creating a crack in the reflective surface, and the yellow glow pushed into the Shade, then emerging out the back of it, pulling the black pearl with it. The glow faded, and the pearl crackled to dust.

“Tch,” Kyoei, getting up again, clicked her tongue in annoyance, first the newbie of all people had managed to knock her into a wall, and now destroy her shade? But then when the Magi’s attention was once more on her, her frown turned to a triumphant grin. “Well, it doesn’t really matter, that Shade. I won in the end, considering I completed the task I was assigned to do.”

And like that, the messenger’s shape started to tremble much like air heating up, and before any of the Magi could stop her, she vanished. Everyone was still for a moment, before Aubade turned on her heel, walking over to Mitsu, pure agitation on her face.

“I want you to listen, and listen well,” Aubade spat, grabbing the collar of Mitsu’s school uniform and pulling her, forcing her to lightly stand on the tips of her toes. “You are lucky Nimbus was able to activate her abilities at the moment she did. In case you haven’t noticed, I am the one with the more defensive ability out of all of us, which means it is my job to help the others fight. If I have to babysit you, I can’t do my job properly. If Nimbus hadn’t been able to activate her ability there she could have gotten seriously hurt, which would have been no-one’s fault but yours. Because you refused to leave, Nimbus could have gotten lasting injuries, if not worse.”

Aubade dropped the magi-maniac, turned around, and shot off over the roof of a nearby building. The remaining magi shared a look, and Nimbus was about to say something, but Numina placed a hand on her shoulder, shaking her head, before they followed their leader, leaving a shocked Mitsu on her knees in the middle of the street.

“…Don’t you think that was a little harsh?” Hyacinth asked as she caught up with the blue Magi. “You know it means a lot to her.” “I don’t care if it means a lot to her,” Aubade replied. “If she endangers the others with her presence, then I don’t intend to hold back.”

Trivia

 * This is the introduction episode of Kyoei.
 * Nimbus is named in this episode.